


Lance Just Wanted to Explore

by ResidentialHero



Series: The Void [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ???? Maybe?, Angst, Character Death, Fluff, Keith can't say no, Lance is adventurous, Lance is gonna blame himself, Langst, M/M, klangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 03:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14228073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ResidentialHero/pseuds/ResidentialHero
Summary: Everything was a mesh of ringing noises and blurred vision. He was stumbling around, completely hazy from his lost senses and blindly reaching around the forest to get some sense of direction. Suddenly Lance was shoved out of the way. His body went skidding a few feet, a blast barely missing him. Looking up, however, he wished it hadn’t missed.





	Lance Just Wanted to Explore

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first attempt at a one-shot! I hope you all enjoy it. Hate it, love it, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you think about it. :) Please don't murder me
> 
> \- Mod Dazzle from the tumblr TimeToRazzleDazzle

Gazing up into the vastness of space, Lance never thought he’d be here, in this moment. Not even in his wildest dreams could he have imagined the tragedy that was today. Space is as beautiful as it is dangerous for today the void had taken his soul, and like everything else in his life, it had been entirely his fault.  
——  
Earlier Today.

The Castle of Lions shook violently causing Lance to tumble out of his bed. Dazed and confused he slowly rose from the floor until the alarms blaring throughout the halls finally registered in his mind. Quickly he got up and shoved on his Paladin armor as he ran towards his lion. 

“Paladins! We’re being attacked by a Galra fleet! The castle has already taken heavy damage. Quickly to your lions!” Coran yelled through the intercom. 

When weren’t they being attacked these days?  
\-----  
They had escaped from the Galra attack unscathed. Well, their bodies at least. The castle had taken heavy damage before they formed Voltron causing them to wormhole away and land on some far-off planet. The planet seemed quaint and peaceful but they really didn't have time to actually verify that. They had to shove precaution out the window before the castle started falling apart.

"Everyone hold on! It's going to be a harsh landing!" Allura stated. She wanted to make sure the paladins were actually holding onto something and didn't go flying around the castle like a bunch of rag dolls. 

True to her word, they were practically plummeting to the planet. It felt like the castle was going to tear at the seams. Lance would have gone flying if Keith hadn't of grabbed onto his arm the moment Allura had said her warning. It felt like déjà vu since Keith had saved him from flying out into space that one time he found himself in the airlock when the castle lost its mind. 

"Hold on Lance!" Keith bellowed. Lance sure as hell wasn't about to let go. He liked his life thank you very much.

——  
Once they had landed and everyone was safe and sound, they all set off to work. Well, everyone who could actually be of use set out to help. So, after a few hours of doing nothing, Lance became restless. The ship was being repaired and there wasn’t much he could do. Hunk was busy helping Pidge and Coran, and Shiro was busy helping Allura. There wasn’t anyone free to ease him from his bore- Keith! Lance had completely forgotten he was here. Given how much of a damn recluse the guy was and he was always off training. 

Not today though. No, today Lance was going to drag him out of this musty castle and explore with him. Running towards the training deck, Lance spotted Keith. 

“Keith! Hey buddy! Keith! Can you not hear me?! Keith!” Lance soon realized Keith was either ignoring him or too distracted to notice him. He hoped it was the latter and tried to think on his feet as to how to get the volatile paladin's attention, while he was training, without getting hurt. Think on his feet. His shoe! Lance slipped off one of his shoes and chucked his shoe at the Red Paladin. It hit Keith smack dab on the face. Not what he was aiming for but damn was that a good shot. He wasn’t called Sharpshooter for nothing. 

Keith was so invested in his training that he hadn't heard Lance enter the room or throw his shoe at him. The moment he realized, it had already been too late to dodge the oncoming projectile. Keith groaned at the pain in his face and stared at the shoe on the ground. His Bayard flashed and changed into its neutral shape. What the hell just happened? 

Keith finally looked up from the ground to where the shoe had come from. Yep, there stood Lance with a smug grin on his face. "What the hell?!" Keith yelled glaring daggers at Lance. "Seriously?!" 

Lance was used to the anger, it was no problem for him at this point. "Keith, I am bored and want to go adventure." He stated as if the past minute hadn't happened.

"That still doesn't explain why you threw a fucking shoe at me!" He snapped, confused and angered by Lance's actions. 

"Well, I wanted to get your attention and not get attacked by you or the sentry." He finally explained with a shrug. Lance thought it was pretty clever. 

Keith glared at Lance again, he wanted to dispute Lance's actions further but Lance had a good argument even if his choice in going about it was awful. 

Lance spoke up again. "We are stuck on this planet and everyone is busy. Why don't we go explore? See if there is anything cool here." Lance said. On Earth, he and his siblings would always explore the forest near their home or the beach. It was just something they did and now Lance is on a whole different planet and no one was shooting at them. Why wouldn't he want to explore?

"No," Keith said simply.

"What? Why not?" Lance asked.

"Because we don't know what's out there and we need to stay with the team in case they need help." He explained.

"Allura already said that it's safe enough, and unless you want to sit and be the kid that passes wrenches back and forth they really don't need us," Lance stated.

Keith stayed quiet for a moment. Trying to figure out just what he should do. Lance wouldn’t leave him alone unless Keith agreed or came up with a better reason to stay.

“C’mon Keith, live a little! Let’s go explore. We’re on a new planet and the ship’s busted anyways!” Lance prodded the other Paladin. 

Keith finally decided that it was probably the best to tag along with Lance's stupid plan. What could go wrong? "Fine. I’ll go with you. Let's get in our armor just in case." He suggested, trying to make at least one good idea today. He rather they both come back with their limbs attached.

Lance jumped up excitedly in his place, "Yes! This is gonna be way fun. Trust me!" He stated with a big smile on his face. "Let's go!"

Practically dragging Keith from the castle, they ran towards the woods.  
—-  
Lance looked around as they were trekking through the woods. The whole planet seemed like one big forest. Trees everywhere, flowers blossoming from the ground, and little animals jittering around. 

In the back of his mind, Lance was aware he was still holding onto Keith’s arm. He never really let go of it when they had left. Too engrossed by his surroundings and quite honestly he hadn’t wanted to let go once they spotted a giant insect. Everything here was backwards. What would have been a harmless grasshopper back on Earth, looked like some elephant-sized monstrosity here. Were the giant insects harmless? Maybe. But that idea was shot out the window when he saw one of those creepy critters swoop down and take some clueless animal from the ground. 

Lance didn’t want to be next. 

Other than the maybe not-so-gentle giants roaming the area, the planet was beautiful. 

“Hey, Keith look!” Lance pointed towards a purple flower that was blossoming from the earth. It sparkled as if sprinkled with freshly ground silver that looked almost woven into the flower. The purple petals faded out into soft hues of blue at the edges and the whole thing reminded him of Keith’s ever-shifting eye color. Sometimes they were a rich lilac, vibrating with emotion and other times they were a liquid steel, rooting Lance to his place. It’s unfair how someone can have such pretty eyes. 

Lance picked it up and said “C’mere a second Keith.” 

The Red Paladin looked at him, nose scrunched up in confusion and grumbled, "Should you really be picking flowers here? What if they're poisonous?" He paused, "Or some of that weird pollen Pidge got into on that one planet?"

Lance, ignoring the jest, sifted his hand through Keith’s surprisingly smooth hair and placed the flower behind his ear. Why had he put it there? Who knows but it looked pretty. Made Keith look softer. 

“Um…thanks? But why?” Keith prodded. Utterly confused by the random action. 

“I dunno. They reminded me of your eyes.” Lance shrugged thinking it was a valid reason. Any guy would realize the similarity between Keith’s eyes and the flowers. 

It was normal. It was fine. 

A soft blush bloomed on Keith’s face making Lance realize that maybe he shouldn’t have said that. Maybe he had made Keith uncomfortable.

Ok so maybe it wasn’t normal. That or it was because Keith was an awkward bean. Shrugging Lance just continued dragging Keith through the forest. Trying his best to push past that awkward situation and go back to exploring. That is until he heard the tell-tale sign of rushing water off in the distance. 

“Hey, Keith?” 

“Yes, Lance?”

“Gimme a piggyback ride. I hear water and I want to go there in style.” Lance told the red Paladin. 

Keith gave Lance an even more confused expression than the one from the moment with the flower, that specific flower that was behind Keith's ear and he was very aware of its presence. "Why would I do that? You have two legs that work perfectly fine." He stated flatly. 

Lance pouted. Why didn't Keith enjoy anything fun? "I know, but it would be fun. I always rode on Marco's back when we were young and adventuring." Lance explained.

Keith still didn't understand. "Okay, but you aren't a child anymore and I'm not your brother." 

Seriously? 

"Okay, well think about it like a training simulation. I fell ill and you need to carry me to the water, okay?” He said hoping that appealing to Keith’s need to be a good teammate might help.

“I still don’t understand.”

“Okay, okay. Just, please. It would be fun. Pretty please, Keith.” Lance pleaded with the best puppy dog eyes since Veronica begged their mom for a kitten for Christmas when she was 6.

“Fine fine! Hop on.” Keith relented. Rolling his eyes but not minding in the least bit. 

Keith knelt down for Lance to climb on his back, carefully wrapping his arms around Keith’s neck as to not choke him, and on they headed towards the sound of flowing water. Lance loved the water. 

As he sat there, held up in the air with his arms wrapped gently around the other boy, Lance couldn’t help but notice the little things. Like how Keith’s hair was mussed up from the humidity, or how his eyes were crinkled with hidden amusement, or even how he tried not to smile as Lance told him some jokes. 

It was nice. It made his heart race and his palms feel clammy. It made him feel things he rather not think about at the moment.

That is until they tumbled to the ground because the ever gracious Keith tripped over a fallen tree branch. 

And that’s how Lance found himself toppled over the other. Staring down at him, barely an inch apart from his face. Breathes intermingling and eyes wide. Lance didn’t know what to do but Keith wasn’t fairing any better. They both just sat there, Lance atop Keith, staring at one another. 

Keith was beautiful, Lance noted. His hair was cascading in small waves around him, messy from the forest floor but almost ethereal with how graceful he managed to look. Lance couldn’t help but reach out and run his thumb along Keith’s face.

His heart was pounding a mile a minute again except this time Lance let himself wonder. He let himself question what he was feeling and it finally dawned on him. 

Lance had feelings for Keith. 

All Keith could do was stare back at the other boy. Losing himself in the endless depths of blue that stared back at him. 

Slowly the small distance and just as their lips were about to touch, a snap was heard nearby. Both of them stilled and looked in the direction of the sound.

With eyes wide and voice urgent once he saw who was there, Lance whispered “We need to go! There’s no way we can take on a Druid right now.” They needed to get back to the castle and warn their friends. Scrambling to their feet, they quickly made haste back towards the castle. The druid seemed to notice their presence because next thing Lance knows there are blasts firing from multiple directions and a blaring light that completely disorientated his senses. Everything was a mesh of ringing noises and blurred vision. He was stumbling around, completely hazy from his lost senses and blindly reaching around the forest to get some sense of direction. Suddenly Lance was shoved out of the way. His body went skidding a few feet, a blast barely missing him. Looking up, however, he wished it hadn’t missed. Keith had saved Lance, sacrificing himself in the process.

Keith was standing there, a few feet from him, mouth agape and eyes wide with black char surrounding the front of his suit. 

The Druid who shot Keith was still standing there, sly grin marring their face and a sinister chuckle escaping their lips. “Young love really is a stupid thing, isn’t it?” Their gaze flickered towards Lance once they saw him make a step towards them. 

“I would check the boy first Blue Paladin. It seems he won’t be here for long” and with those parting words, the Druid vanished into the trees. 

Lance quickly ran towards Keith, who for some reason was just standing there. Almost as if suspended in time. “KEITH,” Lance bellowed. As if shaking him from whatever stupor he was in, Keith slowly turned his head and lifted his hand towards Lance’s direction. Lance's hand barely grazed Keith's fingers when it dawned on him that Keith was glowing, and not in a good way. His eyes and mouth were releasing light like a star in the midnight sky. His body was glowing as if ready to combust from the sheer pressure of it. That wasn’t what was horrifying though. No, Lance wishes Keith was only glowing like some deep-sea fish. No. Keith’s body was disintegrating. Like stardust, his body was slowly being blown away in the wind. It disappearing in soft glows of light, starting from his feet and traveling up to the rest of his body. 

Eyes filled with terror Keith turned to Lance and with his final breath whispered “Lance?”

And then he was gone. Seemingly sucked into the void and all Lance could do was stand there and watch as he was whisked away before his eyes. The soft glows of light enveloping Lance as he stared at the place Keith once was. Distantly he could hear his teammates calling out his name and Allura asking him "What happened? Where's Keith!" But Lance was far too gone. Replaying Keith's watery eyes and how his body shattered from existence. 

The soft glows of light whisking away in the air would have been so beautiful if they weren't so tragic.  
—-  
It had been hours since the incident, the sky already dark from how deep into the night it was. No one wanted to believe Keith was actually gone. Everyone coping in their own respective way. Pidge researching, trying to find out if they could somehow bring Keith back. Hunk who busied himself by focusing on cooking. He knew that, currently, no one would want to eat or really care for themselves while worried about getting Keith back. Hunk was able to distract himself by immersing himself in preparing food and making sure the others actually ate because he didn’t want to add starvation to the list of grievances for the day. Even Shiro kept busy by going off with Allura to sift through old Altean archives to see if this had happened before. And Coran, the poor man couldn't even cope in his own way. He was trying to be as positive and as chipper as he could given the situation. The ever standing rock that they all needed. 

As for Lance? Lance did nothing.

Lance fell asleep in the lounge, gazing up at the stars and thinking how Keith dissolving had been his fault. The entire thing could have been avoided if he had just stayed in the damn ship. After hours of staring blankly out the window, he finally succumbed to a dreamless slumber. His last thought before the darkness took over was that the void had taken something he never knew he had. 

Something he had taken for granted. 

And for a moment, right before sleep overtook him while in the midst of the purgatory between sleep and consciousness, he could have sworn he heard a voice in the darkness. A small echo whispering one word. 

“Lance.”


End file.
